I have some of those, they are rebranded Visonic MCT-350.
They work, but battery life wasn't great for me. <1 year.
Thanks. Do you have any recommendations for sensors with a longer battery life at a similar cost?
I still have some XHS2-SE in operation. Battery life has been 6-12 months. I find them to look a bit bulky now.
As they die off or otherwise misbehave, I have been replacing them with Sonoff SNZB-04. It lacks temperature reporting, which is quite ok with me. Why does anyone want to know the temperature of their door?
I also have used the SONOFF SNZB-04 and haven’t had to change a battery yet. Have been using them for maybe 6-8 months.
The Xiaomi Mi are very nice, but they don’t play well with other Zigbee devices - they need to have repeaters close by. Haven’t had to change the batteries on any of those yet either… Have had them for over a year.
I like the Sengled- No Temp but a solid performer, smaller than most, I've gotten 2+yr battery life and Amazon has them for $60 plus 15% off for 4. Thats $51/4= #12.75 ea. No brainer for me- Sengled, hands down
I too bought 4 of these sensors but unlike you am totally dissatisfied with mine! My issue is that when they don't change state for a period of time when they do open/close the device doesn't show a change. If I cycle them then they start to function correctly. Any suggestions or feedback would be much appreciated.
You have to treat battery life with some degree of scepticism. There are many things that can affect battery life.
- What type and size battery does the device use? The larger the battery, the longer it will last. However, larger batteries are typically more expensive, so there is a tradeoff.
2, Is the device strictly an open close contact switch or does the device also report other variables like temperature, tilt, etc.? The more things get reported, the more often the radio will be switched on and the shorter the battery life will be. Some drivers have settings that allow you to change the frequency for which variables like temperature get reported.
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How often does the device get triggered? The battery on a contact switch on a door that rarely gets opened will last far longer than one on a door that gets used constantly. I have a contact switch on a safe that might get opened once every 2-3 months; the battery should last a very long time.
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Temperature will affect battery life. Devices in environments that are particularly hot or cold will have lesser battery life.
Thus, just because someone says they get xyz months of battery life with their device does not mean you will. You might get get significantly more life or you might get significantly less. Also remember that a device with a poor RF connection might have to repeat messages multiple time before it gets it right. Thus, use repeaters as need to make sure your device have good connections.
I have a Z-wave motion detector on my back deck that is not in a great position for connecting to either the hub or a repeater. Although it works, the battery life is only 2-3 months. I have a similar one mounted below the deck to observe the patio below. That one has been running about four months on the same set of batteries.
I have a few that haven't been cycled for many months (since last fall/winter)- they're on windows that hardly ever get opened. You had me concerned so I just went and opened a couple windows- Each immediately showed "Open" on the dashboard and I can see the "Open/Close" activity in the Log. Sold on them- I'd be more than happy to take em off your hands...
they use the cr2025 batteries- Great battery life- for me anyway.
This is often a sign of a weak zigbee mesh. Your zigbee network's reliability will likely improve by adding more zigbee repeaters/routers.
I'm having this exact issue even with a sensor sitting on top of the C7 hub. I think we will need a custom driver for them so that the don't get kicked off of the zigbee network due to inactivity. I wonder if Jason had to do something different to make his units work?
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